Metal Mutton 🤖🐏 @SteelWool@computerfairi.es

tips for being more #positive about your work!

❌ “I can’t fix this bug no matter what I try”
✔ “I am an avant-garde software artist”

❌ “my code won’t compile”
✔ “this is an abstract piece”

❌ “I never get around to implementing any of the features I want”
✔ “I consider myself a minimalist“

❌ “sorry I forget to document my code…”
✔ “my art is about the journey, not the destination”

❌ “I have never finished a project”
✔ “I prefer to leave the ending open to interpretation”

❌ “sorry, this software is not compatible with “
✔ “here I have chosen to make a political statement against “

❌ “this memory leak causes the program to crash”
✔ “this program symbolizes the transience of mortality and reminds us all what is important in life”

Shadow King launches tomorrow on itch and patreon. Made with #pico8 I had some help to overcome some of the restrictions - read on! 👇

Also, boost this post for a chance to win a key tomorrow! <3

Finally got around to blogging about my new game - https://distractionware.com/blog/2023/09/mr-platformer/ #terrynews

Hi everyone, the page for the Bitsy Fest Jam is now live!
Bitsy Fest is starting soon so join the jam now!

https://itch.io/jam/bitsy-fest

Oh gooood, this whole #Unity3D blowout?

It literally happened because of that shitty Iron Source buy-out that everyone was pissed about. The call to add this fee literally came from the Iron Source side of the business, and it only exists to "kill AppLovin" (a rival ad provider that is better). https://mobilegamer.biz/unity-is-offering-a-runtime-fee-waiver-if-you-switch-to-levelplay-as-it-tries-to-kill-applovin/

There's a lot of interest in #GodotEngine today, so here's my perspective & advice, as the tech lead on Cassette Beasts, a 2.5D open world RPG that shipped this year on Steam, Switch and Xbox, using Godot 3.5. 🧵

First: I've not used Unity (or Unreal) for more than just trivial experiments, so I can't provide direct comparisons. But there are still a few general points I can make.

Also: I will never recommend switching engine mid-project. If you're gonna switch, do it between projects.

Managed to get Hellgineers up on Steam! It will go live next week so I guess it is time to ask you to wishlist it?

Thanks! <3

Things just got (more!) serious... @kenney has renounced their support for #Unity and will no longer endorse it. Kenney has had a profound effect on the indie community by giving many aspiring devs assets and tools to get them started, so this is pretty major IMHO. The next gen of gamedevs will be wanting access to those assets so they can just MAKE something, and Unity will no longer get that traffic. This must have been a tough decision, but I for one support it 100%.

#gamedev #indiedev

Want to feel my fleece? Check out the full painting here https://mike-jory.pixels.com/featured/colorful-sheep-art-out-of-the-stormy-sky-mike-jory.html #sheep #painting #sky #colorful #Dartmoor #farming #shepherd #buyintoArt #mastoArt #AYearForArt

Sheep paintings, join the fabulous flock here https://mike-jory.pixels.com/collections/best+selling+sheep+paintings #BuyIntoArt #ayearforart #mastoart #sheep #sheepart #sheepPainting #animalart #AnimalArtist #farming #farmanimals

One other thing is that developers are rightly mad at Unity.

However, all gamers should also be *extremely* mad at Unity because the only way they can enforce their proposed license is carefully tracking user behavior in a deeply invasive way.

A park bench is public cisport

The worst part of this Unity thing is devs feeling pressure to abandon their projects which they put their love and hard work into, just because some people made a poor decision in order to make more money or whatever. I don't think that's fair, and I don't think anyone would blame you if you can and decide to stick with Unity, at least until you're done with your current projects and only then maybe you consider learning a new engine.

Reminder that availability & porting of any open-source engine to consoles is only less evident because consoles manufacturers decided their _API_ was sacred & unique & under NDA. First console manufacturer who opens up will see 100+ custom engines avail within a month.

I do not envy the #Godot devs right now.

I used to be heavily invested in GNU #Octave, a free #Matlab replacement. That was a bit of a more ambitious goal, because Godot isn't trying to be exactly like Unity, but Octave is trying to be exactly like Matlab. The overall problem, however, is similar.

It's a difficult, mostly thankless task. Users don't care what it takes to make it look exactly like what it's supposed to be replacing. Photoshop users going to the GNU IMP, Matlab users going to Octave, Maya users going to Blender, Chrome users going to Firefox... they all want the same thing: basically the same software, but without the fees and restrictions. It is extremely draining to continuously disappoint people who aren't getting exactly the same software but without paying for it.

A few users will offer donations, but never enough to rival the budget of the software they're fleeing from. Nowadays there's better infrastructure to collect from these benevolent donors and get a steady income than when I was working on Octave.

All this to say: if you're migrating to better, less enshittified software, try to be kind and considerate of the smaller, more grassroots organisation and individuals that are trying to give you a comparable experience with no strings attached. :)

Wrote about Myst parodies

https://virtualmoose.org/2023/09/13/myst-parodies/

#adventuregames